55
comments:

Anonymous
said...

No one in their right mind would take a job with a school who let their coach go for such flimsy reasoning. There's either more to the story, or this principal is NOT someone any reasonable person would want to work for.

LW, I talked to several people at the Dub and all they could talk about was the outstanding job that they thought Brand did with a program on bended knee. Many people have said that the AD is the reason Brand was ousted. They never saw eye to eye. Toguchi gets off scott-free again!!

Does the principal even think about the kids? This will be the 4th coach in four years for the players. That is utterly unfair. Maybe the principal needs to go. His academic program is much lower ranked than Brand's.

I think that this is a ridiculous situation. 4 coaches in 4 years!! As far as the principal's comment, what about the student athletes? Obviously there is something going wrong within the Dub C system from administration to the athletic director who once more and again saves his job (especially after his wife's family address was used in the conspiracy last year)!!!! From first hand experience, I saw how some of the parents disregarded his position as a head coach. They displayed the epitome of ignorance and disrespect. As the old parable states, the apple don't fall to far from the tree!! Here it is live and in living color! He will be successful in any other capacity as he was here.

Oh if only people really knew what was going on with this coach who is an arrogant man to start with. He opened the flood gates for himself with his disrespectful attitude and lack of communication with the parents. As for the AD what does last year's situation have to do with this situation? Oh, I have the answer...NOTHING. Coach Brand was rude to coaches, parents and clearly administration. The rest will come out, just wait and see.

As a fellow WC alumn I can honestly say that this was not a mistake. I witnessed some things during the season with my own eyes and ears and based on those observations this was the right move. Hopefully Principal Modest will chose to put the right person in place this go round. The coach that will succeed Brand must understand that he must bring more to the program than wins on the field.

This is unbelievable...I think someone has been black balled. You win the conference championship and have the conference coach of the year and you decide to go in a different direction???? And that direction would be??? Sounds to me like Brand has absolutely no support from his staff.... WOW!!! your loss. Brand you will lead a football program at a GREAT school I have no doubt....I think this just broadened your fan club. Amazing how people say Coach Brand is rude because I have never seen him have anything but respect for my children. You have to respect to be respected.

I have worked in the system for 15 years and I have seen coaches not win a game and was rude and disrespectful to parents and they kept their job as Coach. It seems as if this Coach was not even given a chance to improve on the things that you are saying he needs to improve on. ????????????????

"BRAND OUT AS LIONS FOOTBALL COACH" As I read this article I pinched myself to see if it was real or not. What is really going on? MECA7 ALL CONFERENCE AWARDS, LED WC TO FIRST LEAGUE TITLE SINCE 1999, COACH OF THE YEAR[all COACH AARON BRAND]."He had a good year in terms of wins, but we wanted to go in a different direction." MODEST SAID."Can't say anything bad about the job he did." MODEST SAID. I would give him a POSITIVE recommendation." MODEST SAID.Well Mr. Modest I say why would you get rid of a coach you thought so highly of? As a parent of one of the players I had a chance to see a lot of things go on off and on the field.I watched as some parents disapproved of his coaching skills, of the way he called plays,if they thought their child didn't get enough play time,and so on.Maybe somethings could have been done differently, but when you're a first time coach at a school like WC everyone will see wrong in everything you do.To coach Brand i say hold your head up high. You bought something to these boys that they were missing. Discipline. Some say you were arrogant, disrespectful to parents and so on. I say you gave back what you got.As for you parents of the disrespectful boys that were on the team, it was your job to teach them respect for adults not his.

So it is okay for a coach to react to ignorant players now? I thought he had to be the bigger man. Apparently some of you don't care how he talks to your children off the field as long as he's winning games. I must have been watching and hearing a different coach with the things that I saw and heard

The whole situation is stupid. Kids will not be able to have a good look at colleges with all these coaching changes. One minute their in, the next their out. The AD is terrible. Won't be surprise if some players go elsewhere. Also won't be surprised if flowers comes back.(HE WAS ONLY SUSPENDED BY CMS FOR ONE YEAR)

Dont worry. thats how they do. Always wait'n to talk down about the school. Bad enough they've been abandoned by the school system. Bad enough they've had some shady and questionable coaches in the past 8 years. And I don't mean any harm...but I could tell by some of his comments in news articles that he had a "hint" of arrogance to him. He was say'n things in the papers that in my opinion, as a coach you don't say. But you have to understand who his tutor was. He was like that at Harding and WC back in the day...LOL Success at WC has to more than just ON THE FIELD. Coaching there isn't for the average coach.

i really hate this for AB,,sounds like a power thing with the AD,,i know Brand said somethings that parents didn't like,,but maybe some parents should have done that to their kids,,and running up on a coach at half time is not a good thing to do, WC will now turn into Waddell,,no good coach will want to work their,,let the AD coach,,he has told people he runs the football team, he should have been the first to go last year, he knew about the address deal

You people have no clue about this man Aaron Brand is a man that brought discipline and is a no nonsense guy.People were used to that pushover Flowers and one thing you will not do PLAYER OR PARENT is PUNK Aaron Brand.That man has done too much to let a parent run his program and just like TK he needs no kid if you can not buy in you have to go.I am a coach and i will tell you theres no way anybody wants that job with those ignorant parents and kids with no respect.WC lost a great man and coach and didnt deserve Brand.He will resurface I just feel sorry for the kids.

This has nothing to do with wins & loses!! I saw with my own eyes "situations" occurring that was not handled properly. If a player is disrespectful, coaches need to have a discipline policy!! WHAT HAPPENED TO BENCING A PLAYER FOR A GAME?? I believe that the AD should have stepped in long time ago and addressed the multiple off-field "situations". It would be interesting to see how the players feel about Brand...I think the parents that support him would be surprised.

Its not about liking the Coach its about the level of respect they have for him.That WC team played hard and together so he was doing something right.Those parents and kids are just ignorant and disrespectful a man can only take so much.People forget TK punched a parent last year leave these men alone they dont make enough to deal with this abuse.

The world today is boiling over with "bad parenting". These kids that think they can talk back to adults are only reflections of the parents and the behavior they tolerate. In any program you are going to have a few parents that are out of control be it junor league, middle school, or HS. The only problem Coach Brand probably made was not developing his "core" parent base that have the ability to squash the negativity because they understand his mission and communicate such loudly to the masses. He will learn from this situation. He is a heck of a Coach and kids he has mentored at Indy and in Camps I have seen him work really respect him. It is a shame that in this time of "Change" rather than the Principal pulling together all parties and working out a solution he runs from the conflict and makes an emotional decision that in effect puts the power in the hands of those few complaining parents. Modest just opened up a can of worms that he will not be able to close. He has set precedent....

The Bottom line is that if there was a problem with the way Coach Brand talked to kids then that needed to be addressed and let him work on it. But no told he had to resign. Coach Brand should not let these kids disrespect him and I am sure he same parents that are somplaining will be visting their kids at the mecklenburg county jail soon. Good luck Coach Brand you are a great person and great Coach.

I coached at WC for the past two seasons and I feel that Coach Brand was treated unfairly. He came off arrogant because he knew what he wanted to do and how to acheive that want. The team was young, so was Brand. A first year head coach, taking over a team with only five seniors and was hired two to three weeks before the end of the school year. He grew as a Head Coach as the team grew into a pack of LIONS. I'm am a proud LION but not today. This is a sad day for those student-athletes that loved their coach, the junior's that will have their fourth coach in four years but love the DUB so much they can't leave. We failed you guys, I failed you huys and for that I'm so sorry. They "needed to go in a new direction," I guest we as coaches have to as well. SHIPP c/o 97"

The Bottom line is that if there was a problem with the way Coach Brand talked to kids then that needed to be addressed and let him work on it. But not told he had to resign. Coach Brand should not let these kids disrespect him and I am sure the same parents that are complaining will be visting their kids at the mecklenburg county jail soon. Good luck Coach Brand you are a great person and great Coach.

It is a lot more that need fixing than getting rid of the coach. The Principal will always make himself look good. Like many have said, if there were problems, them problems should have been address earlier and give this guy a chance to grow.

Its crazy how over zealous parents can bring a good man down. He was trying to build something but a coward AD and coward principal let him hang out to dry. WC has had excellent coaching staffs, in the past but the principal has run them off. They will not be so lucky to bounce back this time.

Ungrateful parents! You wasted so much energy bashing Coach Brand that you couldn't see the big picture.Most of the players respected him and wanted him as their coach. After going through 3 previous coaches in three years these boys were looking for someone to come in and stick with them.You've taken that away. I am a parent of one of the boys on the team and if my son had ever did some of the things i witness he'd still be feeling it today. One blogger was right the apple don"t fall far from the tree. I sat amongst some of you at every game and listened to how you rant and raved because your child didn't get enough play time and so on.The way you acted one could see where they got it from.Brand didn't fail You did:

Principal Modest! what were you thinking? Do you not know what you did? Well Let me tell you, in your article you said all the true things about coach Brand.Then i think maybe you got possessed by a demon or something to say,"but we decided to go in a different direction". we meaning you and the handful of complaining parents.Did you ever stop to think what this would do to the players? Did you even talk to all of them? NOT!How many games did you actually attend? There are a lot of great tenth grade players on the team who probably are going to be division one recruits but don't know if they want to stay or go thanks to you and your select parents.What a greatness this could have been for WC.

Shipp I know you are a great coach you might need to throw your name in the hat because I do not think anybody else can do it.No good coach in his right mind goes to WC after this.I have been trying to get in touch with Ab tell him to keep his head up.Will you stay with the new staff?

No one in their right mind takes this job! AB , I commend you for the job you did on and off the field. What did he do off the field; Well, several kids really trusted and depended on him and he always came thru! I wish everyone knew how passionate he is about the kids there. Guess we never will! I am so , so disappointed to be a Lion. I promise you that there was just one or two parents who just could not buy in. Those are the same kids who are getting suspended in school every other day! Check the records. Go do your thang Coach. You will be deeply missed!

My only question to those parents who are complaining about coach Brand. Who do you think will even consider coaching at WC now, not to mention the fact that there's not alot of coaches out there to choose from. I have followed football at WC for the past 30 years and coach Brand was the best coach I have seen since the days of Bruce Hardin, and Tom Knotts. I remember parents complaining about the way Knotts did things and how he yelled too much. Remember how the program totally crashed after he left, just wait and see what happens now.

It's too bad the kids now will suffer for the few overzealous parents and an AD and principle who can not control their programs. No one fires a first year coach for 'attitude' or 'arrogance' after just one year. Any coach worth his or her salt will get these complaints until people get to know them and get used to them. These folks who pushed for Brand's ouster should be ashamed. Unless there was some kind of serious impropriety can justify this kind of action. Unless irrefutable proof of such exists, no sane person will coach football at WC until the principal AND the AD as well as the unsupportive parents are gone.

I knew coach Brand and I know he was a good coach and a good man, but he was a tough guy. No doubt a great coach but I'm sure there were a lot of people that disagreed with the way he handled things. From my experiences, his toughness on the field made me a better overall player, in any sport.

I hear AB will go back to Indy and when Knotts chooses to retire he will carry on that great program. Players, do not stick around and play for this dysfunctional school. The ultimate revenge would be to go to a program like Indy and give it back to the AD and Principal when you beat WC to a pulp next year.

Knotts retire? Hes only 53. You dreaming. Hes headed to the new school off Truelight Ch Rd in 2010.This is the worst kept secret. He'll get the best from IHS and BHS.Somebody will get the IHS job but they done anyway so it wont matter. Stick a fork in em. That 60pt woodshed whoopin from RC embarrased the prin but if grades dont get up hes history too.

Like Brand said...the kids were lack'n discipline....they came to practices late...weren't showing up to lift weights. And of course you got parents who are not teaching their kids how to respect other adult authority other than the parents. They make excuses for these kids and don't teach them that their is CONSEQUENCES for their actions...and to accept those consequences when they do wrong, instead of make'n excuses as to why the child did wrong. The players at WC need structure. Even Bruce Hardin gave us structure and discipline. Kids today can't play for a great coach like that. Their parents are fail'n them.

There were obviously other determinig factors that were probably not related to football for the coach of the year to be dismissed. Just like the athletes are students, coaches are employees. Many of you are saying the kids are disrespectful...well what about the coach being disrespectful to not only parents but other authority figures? It seems to me that Brand THOUGHT he was Tommy Knotts and had the tenure and record to say and do anything any way he wanted and get away with it. But he was not Knotts. And even Knotts doesn't trash another coach in public.

On the other hand, kids and parents need to quit being so dang on soft! Anyone ever heard of Jim Seacord? Try disrepecting him and see what you have gotten? 1)You'd get cussed out, 2)you'd get off the team!

Lastly, for those of you think WC goes down...wishful thinking. No coach...not even "Saint Tommy"...can win without talent. And that's all that's at WC.

Truth be told WC is in a weak conference. Look at what happened when they played OUTSIDE their conference...East Meck, Butler, Indy, Richmond...ALL L's. This is no slam on WC but that Coach of the Year and conference title is no big deal.

Eagle,,i know Brand and i would like to know what coach he said something about, sounds like your real close to the program,,i still think you don't kick a coach out for those things, talk to him and get him to work on it,,

Aside from the school colors and nickname, the Dub is not the school it once was. Any highly coveted prospect would want to be elsewhere. Walk, no run to Indy or other programs who don't have amateurs running the show from the top (principal). Coach Brand, good luck back at Indy.